This invention relates to rocket missiles and especially to means for improving the ballistic accuracy of tube-launched rockets through freely rotating, bearing-mounted, wrap-around fins.
The military departments of all nations are turning more and more to missiles such as rockets for ground-to-ground, air-to-air and air-to-ground weaponry. To stabilize the flight of such rockets, fins are employed, usually at the nozzle end of a rocket.
Rockets which are not spin-stabilized because they are given no spin at the start of their flight are inaccurate i.e., they have large dispersions. Even rockets with fins which provide spin stabilization usually have too much dispersion to satisfy the military because wind pressure against the fins produces yaw and pitch of the rocket. Thus there is a continuing need and motivation for improving the ballistic characteristics and accuracy of rocket missiles.